


Virus

by MidnightTaff



Series: Origins [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Original Work, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Parents, Abusive Relationships, Background - Freeform, Backstory, Child Abuse, Dark, Enhanced, Gen, Implied/Referenced Experimentation, Origin Story, Origins, possibly more - Freeform, powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-07-15 13:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7224415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightTaff/pseuds/MidnightTaff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Then how about we make a deal? If you help me out with this, this power of yours, I’ll leave mommy alone. How about that?”</p><p>"Deal."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1996

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story can be read on its own, but it is directly connected to my other story, Ghost.
> 
> Please excuse any mistakes. It's almost 4am, and I'm too tired to read over it. I'll try to later after getting some sleep xD

There were times that Robin was glad that she was homeschooled; mostly because she got to spend a lot of time with her mommy, who homeschooled her. But one thing that would always make her wish that she wasn’t homeschooled was the constant fighting between her parents whenever they were both home.

Luckily, her daddy wasn’t home all that often. He was a CEO of a large business, so most of his time was spent working. Even if he wasn’t at work, he would still be on his phone or on a computer doing ‘work related things’. So, even when he was home, he wasn’t ‘home’, as per say. But when he was, well, that was the time of day Robin always dreaded.

It always began with passive-aggressiveness, mostly from her mommy’s side. That soon escalated into yelling after her daddy joined in. And then came the screaming, and then her mommy got hurt. Robin hated it, hated her daddy for what he did. Her mommy just wanted what was best for her – to have her daddy around, for him to be in her life, in their life, and he would hit her for it, as if she was in the wrong. She wanted to help, she really did, but how could she? She was just a kid, and her mommy would always rush her into her room to get her out of the way.

Usually it only lasted a little while, and ended with her daddy slamming the door and leaving and her mommy coming up to hug her and cry. Robin always held her as she did, not quite understanding what had happened, not at first. But after a while, everything clicked, and one night she promised that she wouldn’t stand by and watch her mommy get hurt. Not again, never again.

So the next time she was told to stay in her room after her daddy came home, Robin listened closely for the tell tale sounds. Sure enough, the yelling soon began, and when the screaming began, she rushed downstairs. “Stop!”

To his credit, her daddy did stop at the sound of his daughter’s voice as she stormed down the stairs as quickly and loudly as her small, 6 year old body would allow. He remained frozen in his position, fist pulled back ready to strike his wife again, even as Robin stood in front of him and extended her arms, as if that would somehow stop him. “Stop hurting mommy.” Her defiant glare set something off in him, and he lowered his fist. For a moment, Robin thought she had done it, and a toothy grin overtook her face as she lowered her arms, only for her daddy to glare at her and shove her out of the way, sending her flying to the floor and then skidding to the wall. “Ow!”

“Stay out of this, Robin.” He growled, before returning his attention to her mommy, who began crying what sounded like gibberish to Robin’s pounding ears.

However, it was at that moment Robin felt a change. She could feel, something. A web of something, all connecting to her head, but she couldn’t think about what it could be, what it was. Instead, she let her emotions take over, emotions that soon latched onto the new web. “Leave mommy alone.”

The weak voice of his daughter was ignored. However, her daddy did stop to look around when the lights began flickering on and off; along with the TV, phones, mini fridge, and more or less everything electronic in the room. And, from what he could hear, the rest of the house. “What the-“

“Leave mommy alone!” The yell from Robin caused a chain reaction, as bulbs shattered, fridges flew open, the TV and phones _burst into flame_ , and the plugs began to spark out of control before apparently fusing. The family was left in a complete darkness, emphasised by their silence. Until Robin’s daddy grinned, and dropped his fist before going to kneel next to his still glaring daughter.

“You want to protect mommy?” He asked her, a false smile on his face, one that was reserved for two things – work, and his daughter. Robin nodded enthusiastically in response. “Then how about we make a deal?”

* * *

 

That had been years ago. 5 years, to be exact. And Robin wasn't sure which time she preferred, before or after the fight that had changed her life forever. On one hand, her mom was happier, her dad didn't abuse her anymore, although she was still more of a maid than a wife to him. But on the other hand, Robin was now the centre of her dad's world.

When she was younger, that was all she wanted, her dad's attention. But now? Now she would give anything for him to just completely forget about her.

_"Then how about we make a deal?"_

Those words had haunted Robin for years now. It had made sense to accept at the time, she had no idea that what she had just done was in no way normal. How could she? She'd barely left the house, let alone spoke to or met anyone outside of her immediate family.

" _If you help me out with this, this power of yours, I'll leave mommy alone. How about that?_ "

Of course she had agreed. All she had cared about was keeping her mom safe. That was all she'd cared about ever since then too. So, Robin had stayed at home, and for 5 whole years she'd trained herself in the use of her strange powers, all so she could help her dad cheat to get ahead in life. It turned out that she had control over more than just technology, which had been what they'd originally discovered, but she also had control over cyberspace. Which sounded cool, but wasn't when you dad made you use it to give him more money than he needed, or to erase things he didn't want the world to see from existence.

She'd googled it. Her powers were apparently called Technopathy and Cyberpathy. It had been interesting reading up on the things she could possibly do in the little down time she had. And the fears she'd read about how powerful Cyberpathy could be? Not entirely incorrect. Currently, Robin could get into social media accounts in a blink of an eye, and into banks with a little more effort. She had no doubts that she would be able to get into the safest files to exist, such as NASA, with little to no effort if she trained enough.

Robin could do amazing things with her powers. But what did her dad use them for? Gaining his own power. He forced her to build his economical empire on the ruin of other people, or on lies and scams that she could easily create for him. How many times had she ruined people by transferring more and more money to his bank account? How many fake reports, how many lies had she had to create so her dad could get closer and closer to the top? She's long since lost count. And truth be told, she hated it. So much.

Her mom had taken to telling her that she was very mature for her age. She seemed to be proud of the fact, although Robin couldn't really tell anymore. Her dad had kept her more or less on permanent lockdown ever since they'd discovered her powers. If she thought she'd had it bad when she was just homeschooled, then she couldn't even imagine this. She literally didn't know anyone her own age. The only people she ever saw anymore were her mom and her dad, and she only saw her dad when he came to tell her what to do.

Things could be worse, though. Her 'cell' was a fairly simple room in design, if you didn't count the countless computer screens scattered around the walls, allowing her access to spread her mind through the cyberspace in so many different directions at once. It was both satisfying and terrifying. Feeling the power she had yet fearing what it could one day do to her. What if she got trapped in the cyberspace? What if her mind just got stuck one day and left her body as a vegetable. She knew the fear was irrational, but it was there all the same. From all the research she'd done, nothing like this had ever been seen before. She had no point of reference, nobody she could look up to. She was alone.

Considering her dad's job, it wasn't a surprise to hear people coming into and leaving the house often. Robin wasn't allowed to go down and meet them, of course. More because one of the first things her dad had made her do was erase herself from existence, meaning any records that hadn't been put on paper were gone. Some people remembered her, but her dad simply pretended that they were delusional and forced her mom to play along. Robin knew why he did it – slave labour. If people knew she existed, then they would wander where she was, and what had happened to her. Life was easier for her dad if she didn't exist. At least, not officially.

But that didn't stop the occasional curious soul, who had heard of her or sometimes even met her before, when she was younger, before all the madness happened. They'd often gotten close to finding her, but they'd never quite managed it. Always being pulled away by her concerned mom or flustered dad. Because of these close calls, they tended to avoid the room she was now kept in whenever they had visitors.

So imagine her surprise when she heard the downstairs door burst open, followed by a lot of yelling. Fights weren't uncommon here still, especially considering how much business men tended to argue, something that Robin had never really thought about until she'd become engulfed in their power hungry games. But this was different somehow, it didn't sound as much like arguing as it did like, what, threats?

Her confusion was only increased as her mom burst into her room like she use to when she was younger, and threw herself into her daughter's arms, babbling through her tears. "Mom, what's wrong?" Robin asked, trying to keep her composure and be the calm on in the situation. She needed to know what was happening.

A shot rang out. Blood splattered over Robin. Her mom never got a chance to answer.

The girl looked towards the doorway, shocked. There were a group of people standing in the doorway, all fully dressed in black and hiding their faces in balaclavas. But the one who was unabashedly holding a gun towards the bullet hole that now resided in her moms skull? They had to be a child. The body height and proportions said that clearly. But how could a child do that to someone? Anyone?!

"W-who are you people?" Robin asked, trying to sound brave but clearly failing. How could she be brave right now? Her mom had just been shot! The woman she'd practically given up her life to protect, was dead. She would have been surprised that she was holding it together so well if it wasn't just her voice. The tears currently streaming down her face were very obvious.

There was no reply, and they stood – or sat, in Robin's case – in a silent stare down for a few moments before more of them came up the stairs. A small path was made for one, who walked into the centre of the stare down before dropping another dead body. This time, it was her dad. It saddened Robin to admit to herself that she felt a small sense of relief at seeing his dead body, but it was the truth.

Then, the kid aimed their gun at her, and Robin had two options. Close her eyes and wait for the blow, or hope that, by some miracle, her power worked on guns.

As sad as she was, Robin wasn't quite ready to die yet.

Concentrating on the gun, she let the web weave itself in her mind, and while it took longer than she would have liked, considering the situation, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride when the kid pulled the trigger and nothing happened.

It was strange when the kid didn't even seem surprised at the turn of events, simply dropping his gun and nodding towards her, almost as if they were colleagues or something. Robin found that she didn't have the time to question it, as suddenly more people were storming into her house, and a large fight broke out between the two groups.

Shocked and confused, Robin could do nothing but gawk as the newcomers seemingly won, and who she could only assume was the leader approached her slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal that they were trying desperately not to injure.

"Hello, Robin." How do you know my name? That was what she wanted to ask, but she couldn't see to form the words. In fact, Robin found herself unable to do or move anything apart from her eyes. "We're the WORLD, we're here to help."

"She seems to be in shock, sir." One of the others told him, although they were equally as covered as the previous group had been, so Robin couldn't make out a face.

"So it seems." The leader replied, with an evident frown on his face. "Take her in, then."

Robin couldn't clearly remember the following events. She remembers being moved, and gently guided to the back of a black van that had been parked outside of their mansion. She remembered a lot of talking, most of which had blurred into one by now. But one sentence stuck in her mind.

" _Welcome to Rapture, Virus_."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I would love to hear your opinions, as well as some constructive criticism!


	2. 2007

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit all over the place, since it's basically like one huge mush of flash back for a basic run down of what happened to Robin between the end of the last chapter and the end of this one. On the bright side (possible), it's a lot shorter. The next one is going to be a lot more focused, though, I promise xD 
> 
> Also, I've learned that I'm a lazy shit, so if you're lucky I might actually proof read this one day.

Rapture hadn’t been quite what Robin had expected them to be. Then again, that was what their intentions had been.

It had been a few years since they’d ‘saved’ her from the attack at her home, and taken her into their organization, where they now insisted on calling her ‘Virus’ rather than her given name. It had never really sat well with Robin, it made her sound more like an object than a human being, but they insisted it was all to do with safety, in case any leaks ever got out of the organization. To be honest, at first she’d just thought that they were into their spy movies and wanted to give everyone cool nicknames. But then she’d realized that only a select few actually had them.

Namely, there was herself, Virus, and she seemed to be the newest addition. Chronologically, from newest to oldest, there was also Siege, Barricade and Cadet. The information wasn’t hard to get without being noticed. Just like the rest of the planet at this point, the WORLD kept all their information on computers, making it easily accessible to the cyberpath they had brought into their organization.

It was one of the very few pieces of information she had been able to extract and properly connect so far, though. She hadn’t had much time to herself in the years she’d been here, and those few moments of peace that she did have she more often than not spent resting. They insisted that Robin’s power was something that could be used for great things, greater than what her dad made her use them for, and that she could be a hero if she learned how to use them properly, if she became more powerful.

So, that had been the end goal, for years. Robin would admit that they certainly seemed to be getting there, by giving her different machines and devices to control, or different defences and firewalls to hack through, increasing her capabilities over the years. Soon hacking into the advanced firewalls she could only dream about years before were a piece of cake – NASA was nothing. If she was actually allowed to leave the building, she’d never be short on money, with the capability to easily mentally hotwire a cash machine without needed a card, a PIN number, or even an account.

But she knew that she had gotten to her end game when they began teaching her some more aggressive moves. Her mental capabilities seemed to always remain their top priority for advancing, but one day they suddenly became more adamant about fighting. Robin would and had openly complained about the physical training that was randomly sprung upon her one day, with martial arts and self defence killing her confidence.

The real kicker, though, was when they began testing the ‘field capability’ of her powers. They wanted to see if she could stop a gun from shooting, if she could blow up enemy weapons in their own faces, and from how far. It proved to be challenging, to say the least, but it was possible. Robin much preferred doing it up close – far less strain, but they always insisted that she just needed practice and would be fine.

But one day, everything seemed to just change gear. ‘Virus’ was no longer the centre of attention at the facility, ‘Insight’ was. Sure, she was still trained, with no pity whatsoever for the lack of interest she showed, but physical training was suddenly far more common than training with her powers, since the scientists were otherwise occupied. Which was actually great for her, because as she was laying on her bed trying to regain any feeling to her muscles, her brain could work hard to dig up even more information about the WORLD, and this so-called ‘Insight’.

What she dug up was incredibly interesting, to say the least, and while she had been expecting something bad, since no organization this big with this much power could just not have any dark secrets, she hadn’t expected certain things of the, magnitude, that she had found either.

It was only, what, a year later, when shit really hit the fan. Robin had just been training, sadly like most days by now, and she had recently been told that she was going to be moved to be with her ‘brother and sister’ soon, a sentence that sounded far creepier then it had any right to in real life. But that didn’t happen. Because soon all she heard was desperate screams and yells, and her training stopped as her trainer went to speak on the intercom for a moment.

And then everything fell silent. Movements were robotic, coordinated, guns were raised, and the following events reminded Robin far too much of the death of her mother than she would ever be comfortable with. Then again, it was one thing to witness a cold blooded killer shoot someone, and another to witness countless people shooting themselves.

If she said that time had stood still, or even slowed down, she would be lying. Time remained the same, but what she saw was horrifying, the tears that she hadn’t felt in years rolling down her face as the people she had come to know fell to the ground at her feet, without any work needed from her.

They weren’t innocent, no, nobody was. Was Robin mad about what they had done to her? Absolutely. But she was upset either way. These people weren’t her friends, they weren’t her comrades; at most, they were employers, although kidnappers would be a more accurate word if you asked her. Regardless of their relationship, death seemed to have an effect on her that she couldn’t quite shake anymore.

And apparently the sight of blood made her puke.

Still, this was possibly her one and only chance to escape. An alarm had been sounded in the systems, albeit a silent one, but it wasn’t at all difficult to stop. The last thing she needed now was for more of their so-called ‘agents’, whom Robin found to be far more akin to soldiers, to come barging in and catch her. She didn’t need to memorize any maps or anything, she never had, they were all kept in the system.

Robin found her nearest exit with ease, but she didn’t head there right away.

Trying her best to avoid the horrific massacre that the research facility had become, she made her way to her destination – the data room. She didn’t know what had happened, how it had happened, or who could have possibly done it, if it was indeed anyone, but she had her hunch. To prove it, she would need all the information she could find on the WORLD, and what had been going in inside of Rapture itself. But she didn’t want to stick around too long, lest whatever had killed everything else there killed her too.

Physical contact made a connection easier, so touching the main computer helped Robin transfer all the information she needed into her memory far quicker than she had expected. After that, she finally allowed herself to run to the nearest exit in an almost blind panic and run as far away from the facility as possible.

It was only later on, once she had found herself a nice hotel room with some money she had gotten from a cash machine, free of charge, that she went over the information she had saved in her mind. It was the small details that helped her finally finish the puzzle, but they were all worth it in the end.

Robin had her first target. ‘Insight’; formerly known as Kyler Reid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your feedback/constructive criticism so I can improve my writing further for future stories/chapters!


	3. 2012

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out shorter than I would have liked, but I didn't really want to add anymore to it. It would have only served the purpose of bulking it up, which I'm worried would make the whole scene more awkward and disturb the flow.
> 
> Also, I've recently gone back to edit something in the first chapter. But if you read the original version then you don't really need to go back and read it again since it was a pretty minor thing, and you'll probably notice what the change was in this chapter since I do address it.

It had taken longer than she would have liked, most likely due to Kyler’s, particular skill set. But also because there had been a huge battle in New York that had ended up destroying their previously arranged meeting spot, so they’d had to make some last minute adjustments to their plans. Nevertheless, Robin had finally gotten her to agree to at least talk to her, hopefully without erasing her memory for once. As annoying as that habit of hers was, at least she couldn’t erase video footage, which was more or less the only way Robin could continue to track her down and find her over and over again. Thank god for the worlds paranoia and obsession with technology causing everyone to record everything.

However, arranging this meet-up was only half the battle. Now she had to make sure that Kyler wouldn’t erase her memory and take off again, and get her to agree to her plan. Robin felt like she’d made a convincing case in her own mind, if worst came to worst, but she didn’t know Kyler, she didn’t know if it would work effectively on her – after all, she wasn’t the telepath.

But she also needed to spot her, just in case she decided to bail last minute. This wouldn’t be so hard, if she didn’t look so damn ordinary. It wasn’t like she was waiting for Tony Stark to walk in through that door, or any of the Avengers, really. No, she was waiting for an ordinary looking black girl; brown hair, green eyes, not exactly a supermodel or anything. The only two defining features she really had to work with was her almost ridiculously long dreadlocks, that she really needed to cut, if Robin did say so herself, and one of the thickest Irish accents she’d ever heard. Not that she’d heard many Irish accents to begin with, so that wasn’t exactly saying much.

Luckily, it seemed that her ‘sister’, according to the WORLDs computerized files and documents, wasn’t one to go back on her word, and decided to show up, which was at least one step in the right direction. Although the strong smell of weed was certainly a step backwards.

“You know, Starbucks wasn’t exactly what I thought you had in mind.” Was her opening comment, as she drank whatever it was she had decided to buy before walking over.

“I don’t like standing out, it’s easier to be a wallflower in places like this.” Robin replied as she took a sip from her own green tea, not wanting to be the only one without a cup. However, she promptly put it back down and wiped at her lips. Honestly, who could drink anything that hot?

“Then why the blue hair? Seems a bit, flashy, and electric blue is kind of screaming for attention, especially with your, you know.” Kyler pointed out, as if she didn’t already know the colour of her own hair, in a clear attempt to avoid the direction the conversation had been going in.

“It’s like a double bluff-“ Robin began to reply, only to get cut off again.

“I don’t know, that natural black would probably be a lot less suspicious, if you ask me. But if you want to keep it this way, you really need to top up those roots.” She was cut off again, and Robin felt her patience beginning to thin.

“Can I-“

“Then again, you’re probably right. You don’t seem like the type to dye your hair, so it’ll probably throw them off your scent.”

Robin took a deep breath to calm herself before even attempting to speak again.

“What are you trying to do? You already know the answers.” She pointed out as she kept a close eye on their surroundings through nearby CCTV cameras and phones.

“Sussing you out. I medicated to stop the voices, I actually have no idea what the answers are until you open your mouth.” Robin would admit, as annoying as Kyler had been so far, her coded speech was done extremely well.

“For how long?” She asked, both curious and worried. As useful as her powers were for surveillance, hers had to be much better. Much to Robin’s despair, her reply began with a shrug.

“Dunno, it depends. Big crowds aren’t my thing, though, so it tends to wear off faster when I’m surrounded.” Good, so it would hopefully wear off soon. Apparently Starbucks had been the right choice. “So, what do you want? I’m all ears.” The drinking of whatever it was she had ordered at least signalled her that Kyler wouldn’t speak for a few moments, which honestly felt like bliss at this point, despite Robin now knowing that it was an act.

“I’m sure you already know most of it, so I’ll skip right to it. I think we should go see our siblings, so we can catch up. I mean, how long’s it been since we’ve seen them?”

“Too long.” Kyler nodded in agreement, almost causing Robin to grin.

“So, are you in?” She asked, leaning in slightly as she took a sip of her still too hot tea, despite how long she had left it for.

Kyler seemed to ponder the question for a moment as she sipped thoughtfully on her own drink, which was still steaming, causing Robin to wonder how it wasn’t burning her tongue. “Sure, I’m in.”

“Great.” Robin finally let a small smirk surface on her face.

They ended up sitting in relative silence after that, which actually wasn’t as uncomfortable as either had thought it would be. Kyler was the first to finish her drink, and promptly got up afterwards. “I guess I’ll see you soon then.” She said, more like a statement than a question. Robin simply nodded in reply, letting out a little ‘mhm’ sound as she sipped at her tea, which was finally at a bearable temperature. With her confirmation, Kyler nodded in reply before beginning to walk away.

As she was stepping out of the door, a smirk befell her own face as Robin almost spilled her drink, a very familiar voice suddenly resonating in her head.

‘ _By the way, call me Kylie._ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this story! Keep an eye out for part three/four (depending on if you're reading through Origins, Rapture or possibly both) - Siege - which I'll hopefully have up soon. It might take a little while, since I'm going on holiday soon, but I'll try and get it up ASAP after I get back.
> 
> As always, I'd love to here what you think, and any constructive criticism would be great! Thanks for reading!


End file.
